On the night from 25 to 26 February 1992, Armenian aggressors perpetrated an act of genocide in the Azerbaijani town of Khojaly. This crime stands on a par with the bloodiest tragedies in human history.
Thousands of residents of the Azerbaijani capital gathered at the memorial for victims of the tragedy in the Khatai district of Baku early in the morning on 26 February to take part in a remembrance ceremony over the 21st anniversary of the Khojaly genocide.
President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has attended a ceremony to mark the 21st anniversary of the Khojaly genocide.
The guard of honor was arranged around the memorial for victims of the tragedy.
President Ilham Aliyev laid a wreath at the memorial and paid tribute to victims of the tragedy.
Flowers were also laid by Prime Minister Artur Rasizadeh, Speaker of the Milli Majlis Ogtay Asadov, Head of the Presidential Administration Ramiz Mehdiyev, and First Lady and President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Mehriban Aliyeva.
The ceremony was joined by senior state and government officials, members of the Milli Majlis, ministers, heads of committees, companies and religious communities, as well as the residents of Khojaly who survived the massacre.
The ceremony participants laid roses and carnations at the monument.
Then the head of state was briefed on the landscaping and reconstruction work carried out in the park where the memorial has been established.
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The fact that the 21st anniversary of the Khojaly genocide is being marked shows again that the atrocities committed by Armenian aggressors on that bloody night, as well as the horrors of that crime, will never be cast into oblivion. What happened in Khojaly is not only an act of genocide against the Azerbaijani people, it is also a heinous crime against humanity. This yet another massacre unleashed against the people of Azerbaijan by Armenian nationalists, who have become hostage of their own “great Armenia” obsession, resulted in the killing of 613 people, including 106 women, 63 children and 70 old people. Eight families were totally exterminated, while 25 children lost both parents on that horrific night. A total of 487 people were wounded and 1275 were taken hostage in the tragedy, while 155 are still unaccounted for. During the act of genocide, 56 people were killed with special cruelty, three people were burnt alive, many bodies were scalped, dismembered and beheaded, people’s eyes were hollowed out, pregnant women were stabbed with bayonets. This was a carefully planned act which aimed to fully or partly destroy a people on ethnic grounds. Therefore, according to international law, the Khojaly tragedy is nothing but an act of genocide.
Peace-loving people of the planet, civilized states, influential international organizations and the broad international community must know the bitter truth about Khojaly. This crime against humanity must receive a legal assessment. Despite that, the then Azerbaijani authorities did nothing to give a political assessment to this monstrous crime and to communicate objective information about this carnage to the world community.
However, after nationwide leader of the Azerbaijani people Heydar Aliyev returned to power, a political and legal assessment was given to the tragedy for the first time. In 1994, on the initiative of great leader Heydar Aliyev, the Azerbaijani parliament declared 26 February the Day of the Khojaly Genocide.
Since that time the Azerbaijanis of the world and the government of Azerbaijan have been carrying out consistent and purposeful activities to inform the world community of the crimes perpetrated by Armenian bigots against our people, including the Khojaly tragedy, and to have it recognized as an act of genocide. This is our civil and human obligation to the Khojaly victims.
Every year the citizens of Azerbaijan, our compatriots living in different countries around the world, as well as representatives of other friendly peoples, mark the anniversary of this horrific tragedy with a bleeding heart. People in different countries around the world are paying tribute to the victims of the Khojaly tragedy these days by conducting rallies and pickets, demonstrating photo and video images that document Armenian atrocities. The world’s influential newspapers are publishing articles, while TV and radio channels are broadcasting programs about the tragedy.
The Heydar Aliyev Foundation has made a special contribution to informing the world community about the tragedy. Important work has been done as part of a joint project carried out by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and the Center of Heydar Aliyev to inform the international community about Azerbaijani realities and the essence of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. In an effort to provide support for the activities to be held in 25 countries around the world on the anniversary of the Khojaly genocide, special expositions and English-language booklets have been prepared. Diplomatic missions of Azerbaijan have distributed 17 expositions and publications about Khojaly in the USA, the Republic of South Africa, the Republic of Korea, Belarus, the Czech Republic, France, Georgia, Indonesia, Sweden, the UK, Israel, Jordan, Canada, Qatar, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Japan. In addition, the people of Austria, the United Arab Emirates, Italy, Iran, Spain, Hungary, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Turkmenistan have been informed about the bloody crimes and acts of vandalism committed by the Armenians in Khojaly. Publications from the “Truth about Karabakh” series of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation describing the destruction of cultural and historical sites in Armenian-occupied Azerbaijani territories have been disseminated abroad.
Demonstrations, rallies and other activities have been held in different countries around the world as part of the “Justice to Khojaly” international campaign launched on the initiative of the vice-president of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, Leyla Aliyeva. The main objective of the campaign is to secure international recognition of the Khojaly genocide as the gravest crime against humanity.
The true essence of the Armenian propaganda machine built on lies and falsifications is already being exposed. The international community is beginning to find out the truth about Khojaly. The Khojaly tragedy has already been recognized as an act of genocide by the decisions and resolutions of a number of countries and international organizations. The parliaments of Pakistan, Mexico, Columbia, the Czech Republic and Romania, as well as six US states, have recognized Khojaly as an act of genocide.
Our people, including the people of Khojaly who are settled in 48 districts around Azerbaijan, are living with the hope for a fair settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, liberation of the occupied territories and restoration of the country’s territorial integrity. Our people believe that this day is not far off. Our people believe that those guilty of the Khojaly genocide will be brought to book because such heinous crimes can not go unpunished.
